Originally Posted by
cplager
Hi,
Contrary to what a lot of people think, wheel weight isn't much more important than any other. It's pretty much bicycle + rider total weight that matters.
For accelerating (but not climbing hills and not maintaining a constant speed), the weight of tires and the rim count as double weight. But even if we consider heavy wheels versus light wheels (particularly when we don't count hub weight), these differences are still small and for must of us, losing a couple of pounds around the waist is a bigger change than having light wheels.
Unless you are racing, it really makes more sense IMHO to buy good quality durable wheels (with good bearings) instead of light wheels.
Cheers,
Charles
+1
I had the wheelbuilder at the LBS put together some touring wheels for my Trek 700 (already a heavy bike by today's standards) and gained about 150g but the performance difference made up for it many times over. I always find it humorous when someone looks at my road bike, an old Trek 1500 (about 24 pounds), and remarks that I should get a lighter bike when I'm still 40 pounds overweight. If find it even more amusing when I see someone who's just as overweight as I am laying out big cash for a carbon fiber seat post and titanium pedals to save 100g. If you play with the online tools it demonstrates that on the flat at a steady pace, the difference in speed for the same wattage is very minute for a 10-pound weight savings. Even in hills or when sprinting, the difference between 250 pounds combined weight and 240 pounds isn't all that great. When I get down to 12% bodyfat or lower I'll start worrying about that 5-10 pounds of bike. Right now, putting me on a carbon fiber Ultegra equipped bike would be like putting a Cummins diesel in a Corvette.